Daily Strength for Daily Needs Part 28

Thus man is made equal to every event. He can face danger for the right. A poor, tender, painful body, he can run into flame or bullets or pestilence, with duty for his guide.

R. W. EMERSON.

May 31

_Let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: ... let them also that love Thy name be joyful in Thee_.--PS. v. 11.

_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures_.--PS. xxiii. 2.

I can hear these violets chorus To the sky's benediction above; And we all are together lying On the bosom of Infinite Love.

Oh, the peace at the heart of Nature!

Oh, the light that is not of day!

Why seek it afar forever, When it cannot be lifted away?

W. C. GANNETT.

What inexpressible joy for me, to look up through the apple-blossoms and the fluttering leaves, and to see G.o.d's love there; to listen to the thrush that has built his nest among them, and to feel G.o.d's love, who cares for the birds, in every note that swells his little throat; to look beyond to the bright blue depths of the sky, and feel they are a canopy of blessing,--the roof of the house of my Father; that if clouds pa.s.s over it, it is the unchangeable light they veil; that, even when the day itself pa.s.ses, I shall see that the night itself only unveils new worlds of light; and to know that if I could unwrap fold after fold of G.o.d's universe, I should only unfold more and more blessing, and see deeper and deeper into the love which is at the heart of all.

ELIZABETH CHARLES.

June 1

_One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple_.--PS. xxvii. 4.

Thy beauty, O my Father! All is Thine; But there is beauty in Thyself, from whence The beauty Thou hast made doth ever flow In streams of never-failing affluence.

Thou art the Temple! and though I am lame,-- Lame from my birth, and shall be till I die,-- I enter through the Gate called Beautiful, And am alone with Thee, O Thou Most High!

J. W. CHADWICK.

Consider that all which appears beautiful outwardly, is solely derived from the invisible Spirit which is the source of that external beauty, and say joyfully, "Behold, these are streamlets from the uncreated Fountain; behold, these are drops from the infinite Ocean of all good! Oh! how does my inmost heart rejoice at the thought of that eternal, infinite Beauty, which is the source and origin of all created beauty!"

L. SCUPOLI.

June 2

_We all, with open face beholding as in a gla.s.s the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord_.--2 COR. iii. 18.

Then every tempting form of sin, Shamed in Thy presence, disappears, And all the glowing, raptured soul The likeness it contemplates wears.

P. DODDRIDGE.

Then does a good man become the tabernacle of G.o.d, wherein the divine Shechinah does rest, and which the divine glory fills, when the frame of his mind and life is wholly according to that idea and pattern which he receives from the mount. We best glorify Him when we grow most like to Him: and we then act most for His glory, when a true spirit of sanct.i.ty, justice, and meekness, runs through all our actions; when we so live in the world as becomes those that converse with the great Mind and Wisdom of the whole world, with that Almighty Spirit that made, supports, and governs all things, with that Being from whence all good flows, and in which there is no spot, stain, or shadow of evil; and so being captivated and overcome by the sense of the Divine loveliness and goodness, endeavor to be like Him, and conform ourselves, as much as may be, to Him.

DR. JOHN SMITH.

June 3

_The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in Him_.--PS.

lxiv. 10.

_Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he_.--PROV. xvi. 20.

The heart that trusts forever sings, And feels as light as it had wings, A well of peace within it springs,-- Come good or ill, Whatever to-day, to-morrow brings, It is His will.

I. WILLIAMS.

He will weave no longer a spotted life of shreds and patches, but he will live with a divine unity. He will cease from what is base and frivolous in his life, and be content with all places, and with any service he can render. He will calmly front the morrow, in the negligency of that trust which carries G.o.d with it, and so hath already the whole future in the bottom of the heart.

R. W. EMERSON.

He who believes in G.o.d is not careful for the morrow, but labors joyfully and with a great heart. "For He giveth His beloved, as in sleep." They must work and watch, yet never be careful or anxious, but commit all to Him, and live in serene tranquillity; with a quiet heart, as one who sleeps safely and quietly.

MARTIN LUTHER.

June 4

_Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord_.--I COR. xv. 58.

Say not, 'Twas all in vain, The anguish and the darkness and the strife; Love thrown upon the waters comes again In quenchless yearnings for a n.o.bler life.

ANNA s.h.i.+PTON.

Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully and singly toward an object and in no measure obtained it? If a man constantly aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever a man try heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, and find that there was no advantage in them,--that it was a vain endeavor?

H. D. Th.o.r.eAU.

Do right, and G.o.d's recompense to you will be the power of doing more right. Give, and G.o.d's reward to you will be the spirit of giving more: a blessed spirit, for it is the Spirit of G.o.d himself, whose Life is the blessedness of giving. Love, and G.o.d will pay you with the capacity of more love; for love is Heaven--love is G.o.d within you.

F. W. ROBERTSON.